After seeing other people's reviews, I have noticed that this game has very mixed reviews. I have noticed that people that have played the older Thief games, like this game a lot more than those that have never played any of the previous Thief games. With this forth installment to the Thief series, fans will see that they will be very happy with this game. For those that have never played a Thief game before or even heard of Thief, here is a brief history of the infamous master thief Garrett and the world of Thief.
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| A very happy looking guy, I must say |
Some people will compare the Thief series to the games like Dishonored. Well, they really should be switching that around in the fact that Looking Glass Studios and Eidos have set the standards for all stealth games with Thief. You won't see anything from Looking Glass Studios recently since they went out of business in 2000. The first Thief game, Thief: The Dark Project was released in 1998 and that introduced the world to the Master Thief Garrett. Then came Thief 2: The Metal Age in 2000 and Thief: Deadly Shadows in 2004. The first two Thief games are for PC only, which can be the reason why some people have never heard of the game but Thief: Deadly Shadows was released for both PC and the original Xbox.
The world is set in some mixture of Victorian Era/Steam punk and based in an area known as The City. The areas can range large to small but all the buildings are very compacted which gives you the capability to wonder around on rooftops or in the streets.
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| Home Sweet Home |
This was one of the first games that made people think differently on how to play games because the objective wasn't to go out and kill every bad guy you come across but to find ways to remain undetected. You were able to knock enemies out with a blackjack but you had to make sure to hide the body or you cover might be blown. Garrett is a very skilled thief whose skills have become very useful for others and require Garrett to obtain special items for them. You are able to explore the world using the shadows as your friend and find ways into people's houses and acquire some extra spending money. You can steal everything from money purses, pens, scissors to rare jewelry and collectible art. Let me point out that everything that is stoles like the pens and scissors and such are all gold and silver plated. These aren't just regular common items, they are actually worth something.
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| Better be careful not to run with these... |
Now why a poor beggar would have these type of items, I dunno but just know that much at least. Moving on. An annoying thing with every Thief game is that when you go to the next area, you have to go through a loading screen. The worst of it is that the area you are going to might be massive or really small and you have to go through it to get to the place you need to go to. So if you are trying to get in some place in a hurry, too bad. The thing you must also know about Garrett is that he is more of a Lover (of stealing things) not a fighter. When it comes to 1 on 1 combat, you are able to take that guy out no problem. When there is 2 or more though, remember this motto, "It is better to run away so that you can steal another day." If you try to fight them off, your chances of dying is pretty high.
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| Duck and move... Duck and move... |
The premise of Thief is that you have returned home after a long time away. You and a former acquaintance, Erin, are hired for a job that the only thing you really know about it is that it is really dangerous. Once there, you witness a strange ceremony taking place and start to feel uneasy about the whole ordeal. Getting in an argument with Erin about how she doesn't need to kill people in order to be a good thief, you take her weapon, The Claw, from her. It is flung to a part of the roof with a dome glass cover, as she goes to retrieve it. The building starts to fall apart and the glass begins to break. You try to save her but she slips through your hands and you soon fall as well. You awake a year later feeling guilty that Erin is dead and with no knowledge of where you have been. You also learn that a new plague has covered the city and it is up to you to find out what happened after that fateful incident.
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| Erin is beautiful but very deadly... |
The new Thief game does have it's ups and downs for instance, people can seem to agree that the game play to Thief is amazing. Each mission is like a puzzle you must solve in order to advance. Depending on how you play the game in each mission, you will either earn the rank of Ghost (pretty much acquired by those that know how to stay unnoticed and have no need to knock anyone out) , Opportunist (you can stay hidden most of the time but knockout only those in you way), or Predator.(Screw sparing the lives of my enemies, it is easier to steal when no one is awake to stop me). You are even able customize the difficulty of the game, which is awesome for those that want a challenge but not too much of one, i.e. making the bad guys tough but not as easy to spot you. You now have an ability called Focus, which allow you to tap into Garrett's special abilities, like being able to see traps or items that can be stolen or hidden areas. And the looting... Oh the looting. I don't know what it is but I love looting in games and this game is the perfect game to fulfill my looting needs. I like to break into people's houses and steel everything I can. Even test my stealth skills by stealing items right off of people on the streets while remaining unnoticed. If you feel you messed up on a mission and wish to try it again, you are able to do so and try to get that Ghost status, or steal more loot because the more money you have, the more upgrades to Garrett you can get.
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| It's not easy being cheesy.... |
The cons to this game are few but still a bit annoying. First off, they replaced the original voice actor Stephen Russell with actor Romano Orzari. Even though he does an ok job voicing Garrett, it feels a bit lacking at times and just doesn't sound the same. The script could have been worked on a bit longer. There were a few times where there was some unnecessary pauses in speech between people. It feels that they borrowed a script writer from the Twilight movies and happened to get the guy that added all those long pointless pauses in the film. Also at times, you will notice that the lip sync is off for some of the scenes. A thing Square Enix did to the game is trying to make you sign up with Square Enix so you can see how your friends are doing in the game and all that other nonsense. If you don't do it, every time you load the game, you will get sent an email to try and sign up. Very annoying. Another thing about this game, I dunno but this game feels shorter than the older Thief games. I feel that there was so much more things to do in the older games than in this one. I dunno. There is also the annoyance that you cannot seem to be able to climb up on certain items that typically you feel you should be able to climb them, like some boxes or crates.
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| Be prepared to see these loading screens... A lot. |
One final note about this game that actually kind of surprised me, there are some scenes of nudity in this game. Mainly when you are in the House of Blossoms, you will see topless women and even some people having sex. Just letting you parents know but it is for only that mission and the rest is fine.
All in all, I feel that the new Thief would be one to own for those that love the series but for those that have never played Thief before, you might want to rent it or at least wait for a Steam Sale, get previous games dirt cheap and become acquainted with the great thief Garrett then play this game. On a rating scale I give Thief an 8/10. A lot of fun to play but lacking a few minor details to make this game truly great.
Until next time, Keep on Gaming.
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